1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the field of the present invention is beam homogenizers. More particularly, the present invention relates to the homogenization of fiber coupled light sources.
2. Background Art
Advances in semiconductor lasers permit manufacturers to offer increasingly higher laser powers at a variety of wavelengths for a wide variety of applications. Typical applications of semiconductor lasers include materials processing (cutting and scribing materials), communications systems, medical devices, lighting, and analytical instrumentation. In many applications, to provide even higher optical powers, outputs from multiple devices are combined using combinations of lenses, mirrors, bulk beamsplitters, and fused fiber couplers. In many cases, laser beams produced by semiconductor lasers are not circular but elliptical, and typically have differing beam waists based on the elongated shape of the laser emission area.
Some applications impose difficult requirements on beam uniformity. While considerable effort has been directed to combining laser outputs to produce uniform beams, the available systems nevertheless continue to exhibit some significant limitations. Complex, expensive arrangements of numerous optical elements can be needed, and such elements can require precise, stable alignment to produce an acceptable combined beam.
Thus, despite the considerable efforts that have been exerted for many years, there remains a long felt need for laser beam combining systems that provide highly uniform combined optical beams.